can, could and be able to

Unit 25
Can, could and (be) able to
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Differences between can and be able to :
Both can and be able to can be used to talk about ability. In some cases they are
interchangeable.

Using can:
Can is used in the present tense. It is used to talk about our ability to do things.
Examples:
• I can swim.
• She can speak English well.
• I can swim across that stream.

Be able to is also possible in these cases; however, it sounds
a bit more formal here.
• I am able to knit. (Less natural than ‘I can knit.’)
• She is able to speak English well

To talk about our past ability, we use could. Was/were able to is also
possible.
She could read when she was three.
She was able to read when she was three.
Again, in spoken English, we are less likely to use was able to.

• As you can see in all of these sentences, we were talking about general
ability. Things that we can or we could do at any time in the present or
in the past.

Was/were able o
To talk about things that we managed to do on specific occasions in the past, we
cannot use could. Instead, we use was/were able to. The verb managed,
succeeded (in…ing) are also possible in this case.
• I was able to get some really good bargains in the sale. (NOT I could get some
really good bargains in the sale.)
• After climbing for several hours, we managed to get to the top of the
mountain. OR After climbing for several hours, we were able to get to the top
of the mountain. (NOT … we could get to the top of the mountain.)

• Both could and be able to can be used to say that we were not capable of
doing something on a specific occasion.
• In spite of climbing for hours, we couldn’t get to the top of the
mountain. OR In spite of climbing for hours, we weren’t able to get to
the top of the mountain.

Thank you, now lets go back to
the room and read page 50
and complete page 51.

can, could and be able to

can, could and be able to

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